Comment in:

Science. 2001 Apr 27;292(5517):595.

Regulation of antigen-specific CD8+ T cell homeostasis by perforin and interferon-gamma.

Department of Microbiology and Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Immunology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.

T cell memory depends on factors that regulate expansion and death of these cells after antigenic stimulation. Mice deficient in perforin and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) exhibited increased expansion, altered immunodominance, and decreased death of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells after infection with an attenuated strain of Listeria monocytogenes, which was cleared from these mice. Expansion of CD8+ T cells was controlled by perforin, whereas IFN-gamma regulated immunodominance and the death phase. Thus, perforin and IFN-gamma regulate distinct elements of CD8+ T cell homeostasis independently of their role as antimicrobial effector molecules.

PMID: 11082062 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]